OcCre BR 18 Bavarian Dream

[HubertB]

Beautiful ! Well done !

Hubert

[Quintillius]

Update

So far I have been working on the tender. The tender not only contains coal to fuel the fire, but also water - a lot.
Steam locomotives consume large quantities of water. It is pumped into the boiler by steam pressure.

We start with wood again:

Attach brass sheets to it:

A toggle switch is incorporated in the design to turn on / off electronics (both wires should be black or red actually, small error):

 

I've cut some of the wood to make room for the batteries and electronic boards. I still need to access the inner room though, that's why I have removeable wooden boards.

 

 

 

Rail tracks are delivered:

I've tested the locomotive and it runs fine on straight pieces, but it doesn't make it through the curve. The three major big wheels are fixed and all inline. They don't pivot. So they get easily stuck at the curve. A little bit research on this topic reveals how ingenious the design of train wheels is. When looking at train wheels they look cylindrical at first glance. But in fact they are semi-conical. 

This is how it looks when trains take a curve:

So a minor setback so far. I think I'll make the curves myself using wood and continue experimenting. 
Any ideas are welcome.

See you next time!

 

[Quintillius]

Thanks all. Yeah I really like how the result is now. These are some beauties from the German railways!

Update
So far I am continuing work on the tender. This is how it looks before applying primer:







Toggle switch:





Now I had to add the coal. This is represented as little stones which are glued into place with white carpenter's glue. Really funny job to do.





I still need access to the inner part to put all electronics in so the wooden board with stones are removeable. Its weight holds it into place.



The coal is less shiny in reality than shown on the photos:





Bogies for the tender:























I had to be creative to get the steps perpendicular glued on the ladder:



But hey I'll keep the result of this for next time. 

[JeroenPeters]

This is really impressive!

[Bomber_County]

Sorry I have not being paying attention, stunning build and great modelling skills, I have never seen this kit in the UK, looking forward to the tender and stretch of track for the full effect, congratulations….

[Quintillius]

Indeed! These heavy beasts are incredible sights.

Update

The tender is done now. Look at these lovely ladders! Gosh these rivets are so cool.

It's also time to put in the electronics and to program it. Here's the full circuit diagram. 
Basically there are batteries powering the motor with 9.6 V. The Arduino microcontroller and other devices run on 5 V though, that's where the buck converter comes in. 
The bluetooth receives a signal from the phone and sends it to the microcontroller. From there the internal code will turn the LEDs on for example.

Here's the spaghetti:

More spaghetti:

Spaghetti bolognese!

Next thing is to make a permanent stand and curved rail tracks from wood for temporary riding.

[Peterpools]

So very nicely done .. looking mighty good.

Keep ‘em comin

Peter

[Quintillius]

Update

I bought a beautiful oak panel. Really nice wood! Got some help with creating a decorative edge with a router.

 

Adding aquarium gravel to simulate rail ballast.

 

 

The result is a gorgeous locomotive model on a stand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The coolest part is yet to come. This is not a stationary model. Imagine the chuf chuf and smoke! But hey that's for later. Plus I need to solve some annoying problems regarding the running gear .

[HubertB]

It’s already super cool as it is 👍 !

Hubert

[DRUMS01]

Hey Quintillis,

As I mentioned on the other forum, this is an epic build. The colors and quality are something any train builder would want to aspire to. I followed it on the other forum until you started the tender, but looking at what you have now, WOW! This is a show stopper!

DRUMS01

[Carleroo]

Hi Quintillius,

I am a new member to the group.

I have begun work on the BR-18 by Occre, and have benefitting a lot from your photos and descriptions. One question I have is how you drilled the holes in the boiler for the various pipes, etc.. Also the handrails on the sides of the cab.

What kind of drill equipment are you using. I have a Dremel, and the bits just keep breaking  (they are probably a cheaper kind). What do you recommend?

 

Many thanks,

Carl

[Quintillius]

Hi Carleroo! Welcome to the forum. Amazing that you've started making the BR 18 as well.

What you need is a hand drill and drill bits for metal like this:

 

You can straigthen the pipes by securing the pipe to a bench vise and then secure the other end with this tool:

Then pull as hard as you can!

Please note that there are two different pipes: 1,5mm and 1mm. Only the 1mm will go through these beads:

 

Have you just started or are you already adding the pipes to the boiler?

In case you've just started: make sure to mount the metal sheets to the wooden frame from top -> down. This way you'll hide any misalignment downwards where nobody will see it. If you want more photos you can also visit this post. This guy is my guide. 

 

 

 

 

[HubertB]

HSS bits of small diameter are extremely fragile and break like glass when submitted to a side load. Using a Dremel compounds the problem by adding speed, torque, vibration and weight that will almost automatically push your hand sideways … The only way not to break bits too often with a Dremal is to have it stuck into a drill press that will allow just one longitudinal movement. 
As for straightening rods, another good method is to roll them on a hard flat surface, like a glass plate or a metal board, under another hard, flat, piece of metal.

HTH

Hubert

[Carleroo]

Many thanks. I have just completed the boiler and have begun working on the cab. However I notice that the instructions suggest mounting the cab handrails (brass wire with 2 beads) into holes. I also noticed that later on the various wires along the side of the boiler involves drilling some holes for the pins that will hold the wires.  You suggest a hand drill. I have one of these but is is strong enough to go through the brass plates?  Also, you suggest metal drill bits. Is there a particular brand that works best? And, how to you prevent the drill bits from sliding around on the flat brass?

Sorry for so many questions. I am new to all of this...

BY the way, I did start the boiler plating at the top - luckily for me. Good advice. That keeps the imperfections out of sight. (and I did create a few of these!!)

Thanks,

Carl

[HubertB]

8 hours ago, Carleroo said:

Many thanks. I have just completed the boiler and have begun working on the cab. However I notice that the instructions suggest mounting the cab handrails (brass wire with 2 beads) into holes. I also noticed that later on the various wires along the side of the boiler involves drilling some holes for the pins that will hold the wires.  You suggest a hand drill. I have one of these but is is strong enough to go through the brass plates?  Also, you suggest metal drill bits. Is there a particular brand that works best? And, how to you prevent the drill bits from sliding around on the flat brass?

Sorry for so many questions. I am new to all of this...

BY the way, I did start the boiler plating at the top - luckily for me. Good advice. That keeps the imperfections out of sight. (and I did create a few of these!!)

Thanks,

Carl

It is the drill (and its sharp end) that do the work, and manual power is enough for thin metal … 

To avoid the slippage of the bit in the beginning, mark the hole with a hard, sharp point. The drill will then « bite » into this small indentation.

Hubert

[belugawhaleman]

Wow this is a great build of a very cool subject. Your work is outstanding!

[Carleroo]

How did you drill the holes in the brass boiler plates for the pipes? What kind of drill bit did you use? I have had nothing but problems drilling into brass in the past. I definitely need a few hints and tips. Many thanks, Carl

[Quintillius]

I am using a hand drill. It isn't really hard. You can test it on a random brass sheet (you'll have have lots of sheets left over after finishing all).

Just use any 1mm bit suitable for metal. You can watch this on YouTube. This guy is using a machine tool, but I prefer hand tools for better accuracy.  

 

 

 

[Carleroo]

Thanks. I will give this a try! I appreciate the advice. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

[Carleroo]

You have done an amazing job with this locomotive. Your many detailed photos are extremely helpful, especially since it is sometimes hard to see the detail from the coloured photos in the instructions. 

[Quintillius]

First of all: Happy New Year everyone!! 

And thank you for all kind replies.

Update
Got head-scratching problems making the locomotive actually run. My first thought was that it isn't properly quartered. As I have told before, locomotives need to be quartered in order to run. But the quartering looks fine to the eye. There was still a wheel which didn't do the job properly. If the quartering isn't the problem, maybe the connecting rod? 

I replaced it by a brass wire of the same length. When running the locomotive it became dent as you can see on the photo below. Then it was running fine. 
So I measured the straight-line length of the brass wire and filed the connecting rod to match it.

Now the locomotive runs fine! Problem solved.  :th: .
Here you can see it running on a static stand. Putting a block of wood under the locomotive removes contact with the track rails. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH5P3SpzqK0

Next project is finishing the wooden track circle. Running short on wood now tough.

 

Till next time! Almost finished.

 

[DocRob]

Nice problem solving, I would have also thought about rod length, when the engine itself is running fine, but I like the way, how you actually figured it out.

Cheers Rob

[Carleroo]

I just saw you post about the running of the locomotive. I have just mounted the wheels and rods, etc on the Br-18. I found that running the locomotive (by hand-I'm not motorizing it), it started out OK, but about a half turn after I started to move it it became stuck. I checked all the clearances, connections, etc. and it all seemed fine. At one point I even thought that it was being stopped by the rods inside the steam cylinders being too long and hitting the front wall. But then when I moved it and helped the 3rd wheel by moving it by hand, it worked fine. it seems that the lever connecting the 2nd and 3rd wheel is creating stopping the motion. Could it be that the problem is the rod connecting the 2nd and 3rd wheel? Similar to your situation?

[Quintillius]

@RocRob

I knew an engineer would appreciate it!

@Carleroo

It's like an antique clock that needs tuning. The rods inside the cylinders were too long for me so I cut them. Similar for this red accentuated thingy:

Problem for me was the rod where the green arrow is (and same rod on the other side for reverse motion).

I advise you to take some wire (preferably not the brass wire in the kit as you need a lot) and replicate problem solving as written previously.

[Carleroo]

Thanks. I will try what you did with the wire and see if that helps. Here's what the problem looks like when I try moving the locomotive. Notice that it gets stuck, both in forwards and backwards. Cheers, Carl